“The House on Wednesday rejected an attempt to curtail the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities after a furious last-minute lobbying campaign by the White House to defeat the measure,” Jeremy Herb reports for The Hill.

“The House voted 205-217 against the amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), which would have prevented the National Security Agency from using the Patriot Act to collect phone records of individuals who aren’t under investigation,” Herb reports. “A majority of Democrats — 111 — voted for Amash’s amendment despite the White House pressure, while 83 Democrats voted no. The GOP vote was 94-134.”

“Amash’s amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill pitted liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans opposed to the NSA’s massive surveillance activities against both parties’ leadership and the Obama administration,” Herb reports. “Wednesday’s vote came after the White House and lawmakers who support the NSA’s surveillance activities launched a major offensive against Amash’s measure after it was granted a vote Monday evening.”

“The House also voted Wednesday on a more-limited NSA measure from Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) to prevent the agency from intentionally targeting U.S. citizens. It was approved in a 409-12 vote,” Herb reports. “Supporters of Amash’s proposal said that the alternative NSA amendment only re-stated prohibitions against targeting Americans that were already in place. ‘This amendment would have no impact whatsoever on the misuses of Section 215 [of the Patriot Act],’ Rep. Jarrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said.

Your gun is not going to stop the NSA from spying on you.
Your gun is no match for an Army Apache Attack Helicopter.
Your gun is no match for a Cruise Missile launched by ground, from the air or by a ship.
Your gun is no match for a USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II.
Your gun is no match for an Infantry Platoon of Soldiers or Marines.
Your gun is no match for a Predator Drone equipped with Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

In fact, your gun is no match for the local SWAT team or a couple of police cruisers.

The problem in Iraq was mismanagement. General Shinseki accurately predicted what would happen before Dubya’s war of choice but was not listened to by the Chickenhawks that were running policy in the Bush White House.

An adequate sized force equipped and trained for the occupation could have saved many lives and much heartbreak, but modern Republicans have a determined deafness when presented with facts inconvenient to their beliefs, philosophy or donor base.

Message from the Supreme Commander of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the Commander-in-Chief of the Socialist Republic of the United States: “Well done my son, you’ve shown your true socialist credentials. Please wait for a word from your Muslim brother-in-arms of the Al-Qaeda in Yemen.”

It seems in your hateful tirade against Mr. Obama that you’re conveniently forgetting how many Republican legislators voted for this.
Now you happen to hate Republican legislators as well, then that works for me.

I’ve said it many times before – we need a purging. Term limits are way past due. I wear a certain color, but it doesn’t matter in this instance – the whole system is broken. At least this issue wasn’t red vs. blue, but it was still way too divided on basic civil liberties. Purge!

… truly sensible comment in a thread gone painfully partisan! BLN can point out that it was the Dems who kept this, some other fuçktard can point out it was the Nopubs who set it up, but JCR cut straight to the point: we need to throw the bums – ALL the bums – out. If they voted for this, we should not vote for them. BTW: the entire Mass contingent voted to limit this vile unConstitutional outrage.
Also: Darwin Evolved made some excellent points – in the wrong forum. This only matters here because Apple Inc has been caught up in the government’s misdeeds.

JCR called it correctly & Paul is a dumb-ass. Dump the party affiliation, all. We are on a precipice, or at the tipping point re: liberty/freedom. Bush/Obama wrought a serious situ that gave/is giving our sovereignty to those w/o care re: preserving our constitution…a doc like no other. O-Care, orchestrated by the thug-IRS is the “wrap” on a life of freedom, as we know it. Call me a sensationalist and you’re like Paul = dumbass.

WTF? Take a pill and cool down jackass! It is a fact I am stating…..134 from the fucking DOP and only 83 from the Dems. It is plain as day for anyone with even one single neurone to see. This is America today….two fucking parties is all you get. To make things even worse we either elect king Clinton or king Bush. Even with the Obama reign we seem to have plenty of strings being pulled by Mr and Mrs Clinton in the background. You think you live in a democracy? Fuck you!

No, Paul, we don’t live in a democracy. Can you say “republic?”
And this republic is eroding to the point of great concern and, I worry that there may be no return. You imply that we have no choice. Sorry to say, I have yet swallowed the futility pill, as the spirit of the founders is still a guide. I no longer care about parties (one or two) and I want to kill the king-ship and “I am-vaulted” mindset of our politicos. Talk about cool down, Paul?

Here is the tally, by representatives who voted for and against the NSA surveillance ban…look for your representative and if he/she voted against it, email them and let them know you intend to do everything to influence his/her ouster next election.

Those who voted against this basic Fourth Amendment protection have broken their oath to defend and preserve the Constitution. In my opinion, treasonous. Let the bastards know you are done with this horseshit and anyone who supports it.

Interesting there seem to be people with integrity here both conservative and liberal who think this is a disgusting aberration and a despicable destruction of liberty, and there are people who are apologists and people who want to ignore or forget or defend these actions.

Agreed, it’s amazing to me how many will give away their civil liberties and who empower the federal government. There IS a slippery slope. What do you think we are seeing? Where does it end? The NSA did not stop the Boston bombers where we were told BY Russia that they are terrorist suspects. Last, what new liberties have we gotten? Throughout history, People want to be sheep.

Years ago, I didn’t think someone like Obama stood a chance of getting into the mainstream Presidential election, let alone winning it. His success meant either things were finally changing for the better or he wasn’t really as great as he appeared to be. So sad it turns out to be the latter.

The 4th Amendment is critical. Strike it down, and none of the other amendments matter. Free society fails when everyone is subject constant, random, and unprovoked search and seizure. Obama fucking knows this – but he keeps up the assault on this foundation of freedom anyway. He and 217 congressmen proved they are enemies of the free people of the world.

Just proves this is not a right/left issue. Both parties know these are illegal, unconstitutional and un-American programs. Both parties need to feel more political heat to end the programs and would rather see the courts do it (unfortunately that will take years, and perhaps a few more leaks).

I’m not really angry at democrat party per se. I’m livid at those that voted against this or abstained and even more angry at Obama personally, but I see this as both parties doing the whole country a grave injustice.